Unique Exhibition
Just back from the Great Picture Book of Everything (Hokusai) at the BM.
This is a delightful exhibition and very unusual as it has Hokusai’s original drawings for his unfinished masterwork (or at least career culmination) – normally his drawings for a book of prints would be destroyed in the print making process.
BUT, and it’s a big but – the gallery is low-lit (as it needs to be to preserve the works), they are comparatively tiny (A5 book size, or so), they are protected by glass and if you have poor sight and are wearing spectacles your mask will have fogged them up. (Written during Covid restrictions.)
Additionally the drawings are incredibly detailed and full, and the crowds move very slowly amongst them. So I got a feeling for what the originals were like, and then bought the excellent full catalogue (reasonably priced at £20 for the hardback) which I can study at my leisure, exclusively, and under full lights.
There’s also a very interesting section of the different prints (using different blocks) of the iconic ‘Under the Wave off Kanagawa’ – and how details were changed between print runs.
Despite my caveats – well worth visiting.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, created in late 1831 during the Edo period of Japanese history. The print depicts three boats moving through a storm-tossed sea, with a large wave forming a spiral in the centre and Mount Fuji visible in the background. Wikipedia